A new study by Dutch economic consultancy, Profundo, argues that a financial incentive to ensure that green ship recycling takes place is necessary to ensure the success of any future legislation.
The report provides three different options to provide the incentive – a fund financed by ship owners through taxes levied at EU ports, a ship life insurance scheme and a savings account coupled to a transitional fund specifically aimed at financing the recycling of ships.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform argues that any such mechanism must be based on individual producer responsibility and be a strong economic incentive for shipowners to dismantle their end-of-life vessels properly.
Patrizia Heidegger, executive director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, said: “Every year, more European end-of-life ships containing hazardous materials are sent to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Such practices are unacceptable and Europe is in the driver’s seat to put a stop to this on-going human rights and environmental disaster.”
The European Commission itself has discussed the idea of a fund in its Green Paper On better ship dismantling and the European Parliament called on the Commission to analyse different possibilities back in 2008. Unfortunately, the Commission did not include a financial mechanism in its proposal published in March 2012. However, Carl Schlyter MEP, the rapporteur to the Environment Committee in the European Parliament, has suggested a fund financed by fees paid by ships calling at EU ports, which is now being discussed by all political groups.
The Profundo study Financial mechanisms to ensure responsible ship recycling is available from: www.shipbreakingplatform.org
